The Warriors' point guard finally sold his Oakland condo earlier in the day and appeared to have made the game-winning and playoff-clinching scoop shot with 5.8 seconds left Thursday night, but Kenneth Faried one-upped him with a last-second flip shot in the lane that gave Denver a 100-99 victory and spoiled Curry's party.

"There are a lot of reasons why this is such a terrible feeling in the locker room," said Curry, who had team highs with 24 points and six assists and was second to Andrew Bogut with seven rebounds. "We could have taken care of our playoff spot and taken care of our homecourt like we need to going forward, and we didn't need this setback. It definitely wasn't the way we envisioned the night going. It's frustrating."

Just a year ago, the Warriors sprayed 30 bottles of water all over each other and the Oracle Arena locker room, danced like no one was watching and posted jubilant photos on Instagram after they clinched a postseason berth.

They appeared to be headed the same way Thursday in front of a national TV audience and the 78th consecutive sellout crowd at Oracle Arena. Even after a 25-point turnaround that saw Denver erase a 20-point deficit and take a five-point lead with about six minutes to play, the Warriors had a three-point lead in the closing 3 1/2 minutes and a one-point advantage with seconds to play.

After Curry raced the length of the court, dashed off a Draymond Green screen to get into the lane and scooped in the go-ahead shot with 5.8 seconds left, Faried responded by backing down Green, turning into the paint and flipping in a one-handed shot that counted as the game-winner with half a second left on the clock.

It was only fitting that Faried was the hero. The energizing power forward and center Timofey Mozgov dominated the Warriors, who played their seventh straight game without power forward David Lee (right leg nerve inflammation).

Faried and Mozgov combined for 46 rebounds. The 10 Warriors who played got outrebounded 63-38 and were beaten 27-4 on second-chance points.

Faried finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds, and Mozgov had 23 points and 29 rebounds. His rebounds were an NBA season high and the most by a Nugget since Dikembe Mutombo grabbed 31 in 1996.

"We were outworked, outworked by a team that played last night," Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said. " ... Our bigs have a responsibility, but that's not just on them. When we're at our best, there are five guys in white chasing defensive rebounds. We did a poor job of collectively pursuing rebounds, and that's the last line of our defense, and that's not who we are."

It couldn't have come at a worse time for the Warriors (48-30), who had won seven of their past 10 games and had a chance to clinch back-to-back playoff berths for the first time since 1991-92. Instead, they dropped to 2 1/2 games back of fifth-place Portland, one game ahead of Phoenix and Dallas and two games up on Memphis, which is currently on the outside of the playoff picture.

The Warriors built a 20-point lead midway through the second quarter, but everything that went right in the first 18 minutes seemed to go wrong in the final 30. The Nuggets (35-44), who played with only seven healthy players, used a 13-4 run midway through the third quarter to cut the deficit to 69-64 on an Evan Fournier three-pointer with 4:15 remaining.

Working toward his career night, Mozgov knocked down a 17-foot jumper to complete the 20-point comeback and tie it 80-80 with 8:53 left in the game. The Nuggets took their first lead when Darrell Arthur hit a wing three-pointer to make it 83-80 with 7:52 on the clock.

"We got careless," Jackson said. "We started feeling good about ourselves. ... With a 20-point lead, we started to get out of character - bad shots, bad plays, taking plays off. All of a sudden, you give them life. When you give them life, you're going to pay a price, and for us, we lost."

Friday's game

Of note: This is the 400th meeting between the franchises, with the Lakers holding a 248-151 lead, including winning their past 11 home games in the series. ... The Warriors are expected to be without power forward David Lee (nerve inflammation, right leg), and they could be without small forward Andre Iguodala, who will have his minutes monitored in back-to-back sets because of knee tendinitis. ... The Lakers will be without shooting guard Kobe Bryant (left knee), guard Xavier Henry (left wrist/right knee) and center Chris Kaman (right calf). Los Angeles power forward Pau Gasol (vertigo) and point guard Steve Nash (nerve root irritation) are doubtful. ... After being traded from the Warriors on Feb. 19, Kent Bazemore averaged 13.1 points on 37.1 percent three-point shooting, 3.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.3 steals in 23 games before tearing a tendon in his right foot Sunday. ... The Lakers have lost five straight games and 11 of their past 14. ... The Warriors are 6-7 in the second games of back-to-back sets this season.